Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.
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The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.
The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.
Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of aloneness. They are read more
Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of aloneness. They are more willing to follow their own vision, even when it takes them far from the mainland of the human community. Unexplored places do not frighten them- or not, at any rate, as much as they frighten those around them. This is one of the secrets of their power. That which we call "genius" has a great deal to do with courage and daring, a great deal to do with nerve.
Thought control, like birth control, is best undertaken as long as possible before the fact. Many grown-ups will obstinately persist, read more
Thought control, like birth control, is best undertaken as long as possible before the fact. Many grown-ups will obstinately persist, if only now and then, in composing small strings of sentences in their heads and achieving at least momentary logic. This probably cannot be prevented, but we have learned how to minimize the consequences by arranging that such grown-ups will be unable to pursue that logic very far. If they were at home in the technology of writing, there's no telling how much social disorder they would cause by thinking things out at length.Our schools have chosen to cut this danger off as close to the root as possible, thus taking measures to preclude not only the birth of thought but its conception. They give the pill to even the youngest children, but just to be on the safe side, they give it to everybody else, too, especially all would-be schoolteachers.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.
An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.
To take an unequivocal stand, it seems to me, is of greater heuristic value and far more likely to stimulate read more
To take an unequivocal stand, it seems to me, is of greater heuristic value and far more likely to stimulate constructive criticism than to evade the issue.
Human reason can neither predict nor deliberately shape its own future. Its advances consist in finding out where it has read more
Human reason can neither predict nor deliberately shape its own future. Its advances consist in finding out where it has been wrong.
If you hate something thoroughly without knowing why, you can be sure there is something of it in your own read more
If you hate something thoroughly without knowing why, you can be sure there is something of it in your own nature.
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and read more
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.
